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Hey guys! Sorry about the one week hiatus. I lost my computer charger! However, I found it and to apologize I have a longer story for you guys. Little Lion gave me this prompt and I fell in love with it. So I hope you guys enjoy and don't forget to comment and share the story! Stay nerdy!​--Little Snake

​You know, I’m pretty sure normal people would take one look at an ad for a run-down apartment complex - whose history with the health and safety department is a bit questionable - and then run away screaming. However, I have never claimed to be normal. I’m thinking it would be somewhat hypocritical of me if I called myself normal when I used to have the nickname, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Given-Flowers,” but it’s not like it’s my fault that my elementary school always had such tasty looking flowers near the playground. Anyways.... I’m not normal, let’s just get that straight.

So it only makes sense that I was the only one who responded to the ad. Which is awesome for me, seeing as I’m a broke college student and the ad was for a cheap, one bedroom apartment. (The only thing I like better than cheap is free food.)

Now, two weeks later, it’s finally time to start moving in.

As I close the moving truck’s door, I look up towards my new home. “Well, at least I’ll have my own bathroom,” I tell my sister as she opens up the back of the truck, “that’s a step up from the college dorms, right?” Looking at the outside of the building doesn’t give me much hope. The last time the apartment complex was painted, was probably in the 1800’s, and it looks as if a strong breeze could knock the roof right off.

My sister grabs a box out of the truck and walks up to me on the sidewalk. “If it were up to me,” She looks up at the building as well, “I would rather share the bathroom with college kids than 100 year old bacteria and mold.”

Okay, so she’s got me there, but hopefully it won’t be that bad. I’ve seen some pictures of the inside of the apartment and it looks clean, just… very old.

I walk back to the truck and pull out a box before following my sister into the building. I met with the landlord a little earlier in the week and he gave me the key, so we walk straight up to the apartment. Unfortunately, my apartment is on the seventh floor and because of the building’s old age, it doesn’t have an elevator. So we walk up seven flights of stairs and down a hallway straight from one of my sister’s favorite horror films before reaching apartment #709. I set the box down on the floor next to my feet and pull out my key. It takes a little effort to get the door to unlock. When it finally does, the door surprisingly glides open smoothly without a creak or groan to be heard.

“Wow Toby, this place actually looks liveable.” My sister pushes past me into the living room and I have to agree. To the right, the living room and kitchen are only separated by a counter so the space seems bigger than it actually is. Looking to the left, I see sliding doors that open up to my patio where a great deal of morning coffee will be drunk; and then, if I look straight ahead, I can see the hallway where I know my bedroom and bathroom are.

The apartment came pre-furnished, so I only had to bring my personal belongings and a few other everyday things. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still in the bad side of town and older than sliced bread, but if I had to choose a place to get murdered in my sleep, then this apartment is a pretty good choice.

We spend about three hours bringing everything up from the truck and unpacking my stuff. When everything is put away, both my sister and I are completely wiped out and very hungry.

“I’ve heard that there’s great family-owned diner about a block away from here.” I say and unceremoniously fall onto the couch next to my sister.

She grunts in agreement but neither of us move to get up.

I close my eyes but reopen them immediately when I feel a cool breeze on my face. I sit up and look around the tiny apartment. It must have been a draft as there are no windows open. Disregarding it as a quirk of the old atmosphere, I make a note to buy more blankets. I lay back down on the couch next to my snoring sister and close my eyes for the second time.

****

When I open my eyes again, the sun is fading from the horizon and the living room is darker than before.

I stand up from my spot on the couch and stretch out my store back.

I look down at the couch and see that my sister is still asleep.

“Get up Addy,” I nudge her awake, “we missed lunch, but we still have time for dinner.” She takes the hand I’m holding out to her and with a grunt she stands up.

She yawns and stretches as well. “It’s your fault we missed lunch you know.” she punches my arm and walks to the door.

“Oh really?” I scoff, “I don’t think I was the one who fell asleep first.”

Addy sticks her tongue out at me before grabbing my keys off of the table next to the door.

She tosses me my keys and we go out the door. “Ya whatever,” she says as I lock my door, “I’ll apologise by letting you pay for dinner.”

Before I can get another word in she is already running down the hallway to the stairs. By the time we get outside, I’m out of breath from trying to catch up with her. I swear, for a 21 year old, she sure acts like a ten year old; however, she was the one who kicked a kid in the shins for pushing me off a swing so I guess I love her.

While we wait to cross the street, I look up at the window I now know to be a part of my apartment. I don’t remember leaving a light on, but Addy is already dragging me across the street before I can think too much about it.

After dinner, Addy and I walk back to the apartment building and I hug her goodbye. She climbs into the driver’s seat of the moving truck and promises to bring my car tomorrow morning.

I wave goodbye as she pulls out of the parking spot we left it in after we were done bringing everything up to my new home. With a yawn, I start to walk back into the building.

When get back into the building I am stopped by one of my neighbors. We talk for a bit as we walk up the stairs but when I mention that I am the new resident of #709 she looks at me like I’m crazy. After that, the conversation dies off and an awkward air surrounds us instead.

When we reach the sixth floor, she gives me one last confused look and we part ways. I finish the last of my trek reach my door.

While I’m unlocking it I hear a strange noise from inside. I put my ear up to the door but I hear nothing else. The landlord did say that the air conditioning unit would make a weird noise as it turns off and on, so I don’t think too much of it. But still, this apartment is starting to make me nervous.

I laugh quietly at my thoughts as I unlock the door and step inside. When I get inside, I close and lock the door before putting my keys on the table next to the door.

It feels too quiet in here, so I go to the living room and turn on the T.V. Once I’m satisfied that there is enough noise in the apartment to expel my nervousness, I go to my bedroom and start to get ready for bed. Even with the nap I took this afternoon, I’m still exhausted from moving in.

As I’m brushing my teeth, I hear the T.V. turn off. After wiping my mouth with the bathroom towel, I go into the living room to investigate.

When I get there, I see that the remote is exactly where I left it. It must’ve been a problem with the outlet where the T.V. is plugged in. I’ll have to talk to the landlord tomorrow about that. However, at the moment, I’m making a note in my head to yell at my sister for showing me those horror films last night.

I sigh, and turn the T.V. on again before sitting down on the couch.

I watch some movie about a science geek and theatre geek unexpectedly meeting and falling in love. So I'm a hopeless romantic, sue me. Actually please don't, I'm very poor. By the time it's over, the clock on my phone reads 8:30 pm. I turn off the T.V. and head to my room. Today has been long and exhausting, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I finally have my own place; that's something that I never thought would've happened. Before this, I lived with Addy and her boyfriend. Even though we love each other, I'm pretty sure living with your 19 year old brother is not something you want to do for the rest of your life. With thoughts of independence, I fall asleep.

****

I'm still half asleep when I feel something tickle my nose. I rub at my nose and start to drift off again.

Wait a second… Why is something tickling my nose?!

Startled, my eyes shoot open and I'm greeted with another pair of translucent eyes staring back at me.

With a very loud scream, I grab my pillow and throw it at the person standing over me. Unfortunately the pillow didn't do much damage as it went right through the intruder.

Even more frightened now, I scramble and fall off my bed. “What are you?!” I scream/ask the person in front of me. At least I think it's a person.

“I'm sorry,” he says, putting his hands up near his face. “ I saw you using your small electronic box thing earlier and I was curious! But I accidentally dropped it and you started to wake up!”

He walks - er, floats - over to where my pillow landed and picks it up before bringing it over to me. I flinch when he holds it out to me and he looks apologetic. “I really am sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you.”

I gingerly take the pillow out of his hands and hold it up to my chest like a shield. “You still haven't answered my question. What are you?”

“Promise you won't freak out again?” He asks me in turn.

I nod suspiciously and he continues.

“I may sorta, kind of be,” he wrings his hands together, “a ghost?”

I stare at him incredulously. “A ghost.”

He gives a small shake of his head before looking down at the ground.

I sit on my bed and try to process this new information. “Okay I get it now,” he looks at me hopefully. “I've gone crazy, haven't I?”

“Now you're just being ridiculous.” He rolls his eyes at me and crosses his arms.

“Well, what do you expect me to believe?” I gesture at him before continuing, “Some random stranger shows up in my apartment, claiming to be a ghost; so of course I'm going to think I'm going crazy!” I stop and think for a moment. “Plus, you can't be a ghost, you picked up my pillow.”

He takes one last look at me and promptly walks through the bedroom wall into the hallway. It's a few seconds before he returns and by then, I'm pretty sure my jaw has hit the ground.

“Now do you believe me?” he asks.

“But you picked up the pillow!” I try to hold on to the admittedly weak evidence of him being human for as long as I can. Although, I'm starting to believe him. I really have gone crazy.

“I can pick up stuff just fine,” he pick up my phone off of the ground to prove his point, “However, I can make things go through me as a defense mechanism.” He holds my phone out to me and I realize, I still don't know his name. “By the way, what is this thing?”

“I guess I have no choice but to believe you, huh?” I sigh and shake my head. A ghost. A real life ghost. What do I do with one of those? He seems nice enough, kind of clueless though.

I turn on the small lamp next to my bed. “Alright, how about a question for a question? I answer your question and you answer one of mine, sound good?”

He nods in agreement.

“This,” I say, indicating my phone, “Is a cell phone. It allows me to talk to people over long distances and I have access to the internet.”

It takes a moment to for him to respond.

“That's a phone?” He walks closer to me and I feel proud of myself for not flinching this time. “But it's so tiny!” He reaches to touch it but stops and looks at me.

Up close, I can see that his eyes are a pale blue and he has a light dusting of freckles along his nose and cheeks. He looks human enough, but there is something inhuman about him too. Maybe it's the fact that he's somewhat translucent.

I hold the phone out, indicating it's okay to touch it.

“Wow.” There's fascination in his voice; I wonder how old he is. He doesn't look a day over 18.

“Okay, your turn!” He says brightly, and it startles me out of my thoughts.

“What's your name?” I ask him.

He smiles and sits on the bed next to me. “No one's asked me that in a long time. It's James. James Andler.” He seems caught up in the past for a moment and I am again left wondering how old he - James - actually is.

“How old are you, James?”

He laughs and holds up his hand. “ Nope! It's my turn to ask a question!” The way he says it, like a kid who has someone new to play with, makes me smile despite being scared out of my wits. Although, that's not entirely true anymore. Maybe it's the sheer confusion and wonder in his voice as he talks about my plain, old phone, but James-The-Ghost doesn't seem as threatening as he used to.

We end up talking until 4:00 in the morning and by then, can barely keep my eyes open. James learned that the internet is not run by magic like he previously thought - that one took a moment for him to process - and I learned that he will be turning 140 years old in a few weeks. I wanted to ask him how he died but that seems a bit to personal to share with someone you just met. Even if said person was woken up by a ghost standing over them in the middle of the night.

After a few more minutes of talking, in which I am falling asleep sitting up, I walk into the living room with James gliding behind me.

It’s strange, he has legs but his feet don’t quite touch the ground; more like they are floating an inch or two off the ground.

Once we reach the living room, James sits down on the couch and I turn on the T.V. to keep him entertained while I catch a few more hours of sleep.

“Well, goodnight, I mean...morning… I think?” I say awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck.

He looks over at me for a moment and smiles brightly, “Good night!” He waves before focusing on the T.V.

I walk back to my room and close my door. Walking over to my bed, I try to clear my thoughts. My roommate is a ghost?! I didn’t think they actually existed but now I’m with one. He doesn’t seem menacing like all of the ghost you see in the media these days. You know what he really reminds me of? My brother’s six year old daughter. She’s going through the stage where everything she says is a question.

I flop down on the bed, and I’m asleep before my head hits the pillow.

When I wake up, it’s 8:30 am according to my glaringly bright phone. I start to close my eyes for a few more minutes until my stomach starts grumbling.

I get out of bed and walk to the kitchen. Opening up the fridge, I see all of the groceries Addy and I put in there the day before. I pull out the milk and stand up.

I close the fridge door and turn around.

“Goodmorning Toby!”

This time I did not throw the nearest projectile at James, but I was pretty close.

So I didn’t dream up my ghost of a roommate last night.

“Hey James,” I smile and walk around him to the counter underneath where I keep my cups. “Sorry, I didn’t see you come in.”

He hops up onto the counter as I grab a glass and pour milk into it.

“That’s okay.” James stares at me while I take a piece of bread out of the bag on my counter. “What are you doing?”

I place the bread into my toaster and set it to go off in three minutes. “Making toast.” I say and he looks at me funny so I explain, “You put it in this toaster and it cooks the bread.”

“Oh, like a little stove!” He stares at the toaster intently, waiting for the bread to be done cooking.

I hear the doorbell ring so I tell James to not touch anything. He mock salutes at me and I can’t help but laugh.

Before I open up the door, I make sure I’m blocking anyone’s view to the kitchen.

When I open up the door, I see Addy standing there. “Oh, hey sis! What are you doing here?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “I brought your car over,” she hands me my car keys, “and I thought that, in thanks, you could make me breakfast.”

She tries to push past me, but I stop her.

“No!” I realize that I just yelled at her and go to correct myself, “I mean - um, today is not a good day. I don’t really have a lot of food.”

Addy looks at me funny. “I know that, silly! Which is why I brought over some more!” She holds up a bag of groceries, her eyebrow arched. I can tell she doesn’t believe me.

Just as I’m trying to get her to leave, I hear a bloodcurdling scream come from the kitchen. “Who was -” she starts to say.

“Nothing!” I say, and slam the door in her face before rushing into the kitchen.

When I get there, James is hiding behind the counter separating the living room and kitchen.

“What happened?”

He points behind me at the toaster. “It jumped out and attacked me!”

Looking behind me, I see that my toast is done.

I try to contain my laughter - for his sake - but it doesn’t work that well.

“It’s not going to hurt you, I promise.” I pick up the piece of toast and hold it out to him over the counter.

He hold his hands out hesitantly, and I try to place it in his palms but the toast goes right through them. Maybe someday - far, far into the future - James and Addy will meet, but today is not that day.

I hear a gasp come from near the door area. “Did that piece of bread just go through his hands?!”

Well, maybe they’ll meet just a little bit earlier than I had planned.

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Authors

Hey there! We are Little Lion and Little Snake, which are nicknames we gave each other based on our Harry Potter houses! We hope you enjoy our works, and leave us a comment or two to let us know what you did (or didn't) like about them!Head over to "Meet The Authors" to read more about Scarlet Tea and Silver Ink's founders